Before We Were
by LadyMononoke756
Summary: Hinata wasn't always the sweet tragic unloved daughter and Hanabi wasn't always the favorite. You have no idea how hard she had to work to get anywhere near that... SasukexHanabixGaara,Hanabi's POV.
1. Beginings and Waiting

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto...(cries) even though I really want to (sniff) however, I do own this particular story and I will be extremely cross with you if for some odd reason you chose to take it from me or steal any part of it in word, form or idea...so don't do it**

I remember a time when she was seven and I was four, we were all in the southern dojo, the one with ancient oak floors kissed by the sun and cool stone steps veiled in the shade of a willow. Neji and I were seated along the side of the floor with four of the Hyuuga elders as Otousan and Hinata sparred. Sometimes I saw the elders frown, caught them pursing their lips or arching an eyebrow but I thought little of it, not realizing it would change my life and the order of things eventually. I watched Otousan's movements intently without expression quietly studying the lines etched in my father's face and the movements of my sister's hands. Otousan never asked me to spar.

I was by no means oblivious to the fact that father would never pay as much attention to me as he did to Hinata, his treasured favorite daughter. Hinata was eldest, first born, the heir… and I would grow up to serve her loyally and become a member of the branch family. I knew this, and I didn't want to know.

I was expendable, Hinata was more important and Otousan would save none of his attention for me or Neji nii-san, this mantra had been engraved in my mind and perfectly accepted for as long as I could remember.

Hinata's birthday was the twentieth of January and mine was the first of February. Each year I would watch as beautiful colored lanterns went up for Hinata's birthday, and I would help adorn my sister in exquisite new kimonos and expensive hair ornaments. The celebration was like a miniature festival and always last a week; I looked forward to this occasion all year but dreaded it at the same time, preparations were frenzied and I was more likely to get slapped in the weeks leading up to it. But during the celebration I didn't care, I was too busy being hypnotized by all the beautiful decorations, there was music and food set out on tables everywhere as relatives from other villages and family friends came to the unofficial festival. I could run around and play without being yelled at or sneak away from the festivities to go train with shuriken and kunai. And every year, as February first approached I would smile and eagerly wait for my own little festival! I would run around the compound happily expecting lights and decorations searching for the scents of my favorite foods! I constantly looked around, enthusiastically expecting Otousan to surprise me with a new kimono!

But it never happened. The compound was quiet, the walls were plain, and no one came to visit.

Otousan would find me sitting in the practice yard and smack me asking why I had been running around 'laughing like an idiot!' And I bit my lip because I didn't dare cry but my tears spilled over anyway and I couldn't stop from crying. I sobbed uncontrollably and my tears fed the parched dusty ground. I bit my lip until it bled and the blood mingled with the tears. He hit me with his walking stick and again demanded to know why I had been disrupting the quiet and wasting my valuable practice time. "O-Otou-Otousan…" I whispered though my sobs, "to-today is…it's my birthday…" But he never heard my answer because my whisper was to soft and my words unintelligible though my weeping…so he would just walk away disgusted and leave me there.

It was Neji nii-san who would always find me later and silently carry me back to my room. I understood that he had gone though a lifetime of forgotten birthdays since his father died and he pitied me for not having anything in the first place. He who worked so hard and whose life was so unfair…he deserved a family, a better existence than this…but he never cried. I decided I wanted to be like him, and by my fifth birthday, I didn't have one. February first was not my birthday anymore, it was just a day and there was nothing significant about it; but even though it was unimportant I decided that every day that week I would go visit my mother's grave. Eventually I found out that February first was the actual anniversary of her death and that she had died giving birth to me. So I went to her grave, cleaned her grave stone, offered incense, prayers and apologized to her…for being alive.

Because of this rift, I found it hard to love my sister, I remember laughing with her and playing with her when I was little, but it was artificial. We couldn't stay sisters because we were unequal and it was painful. Our games were always interrupted by someone's call for me do laundry or clean something. "Stop it!" the housekeeper would shout and she would hit me with a rod, "you're so lazy! Stop wasting Hinata-sama's time! Go clean the dojo!" and with a resounding slap across the face I would bow and apologize to Hinata for wasting her time and then scuttle off to do my chores. She would whimper sometimes, not for me, but because the sight of me being slapped interrupted her rosy view of the world.

Every morning I made the familiar trek to the dojo, quietly following Neji-san. Hinata always walked in front of us, holding hands with Otousan, and we followed… like faithful foot soldiers ready to serve their queen. Because that was the way things were, and I learned to believe a family wasn't anything else. I poured my love into my father but like a stream running down hill, not one drop ever came back. I wanted the warmth and devotion I saw my Otousan share with Hinata, but I learned not to expect it; listlessly and obediently walked though the days of my life as a dutiful daughter and dependable dog until the day father would notice my existence.

I had nothing else, so I strived to be recognized during training, I searched my body for energy and squeezed every drop of it out of me and channeled it into my training. I stayed in the practice yard even after father dismissed us, determined to use every spare minute to get closer to my goal of being acknowledge and treated with the love he seemed to reserve only for Hinata.

I rose with the sun every morning and went out into the forest with Neji to practice, we didn't practice together but we practiced near each other for the same length of time and that was enough. We didn't even need to speak to each other but slowly we did and we became… not friends but perhaps allies and companions. It gave me resilience to see him train everyday and it inspired me; I began training into the night as well, leaping from trees and practicing my aim. A lot of the time Neji would have to peel me off the ground and drag me back to my room in a cold sweat. If Otousan noticed any improvement or wondered why I would go to breakfast with a fresh array of scratches on my arms on a daily basis he didn't show it. And that was not what I wanted.

One day, for no apparent reason, the three of us, Neji nii-san, Hinata and I were all called before the elders and given small slips of paper. Hinata let out a little gasp and Neji's eye's widened a little in surprise when both of their pieces of paper split in half and became damp. The elders nodded at this and murmured to each other, a scribe began scribbling this down and father looked satisfied and nodded. Water and wind were both perfectly acceptable chakra natures, they were traditional Hyuuga elements that were passed down through generations, and completely suited to our clan's fighting style. As part of our advanced bloodline we were expected to carry at least one of these elements and hold at least two chakra natures. I did not.

My slip of paper cut it's self in half but then continued splitting into smaller pieces and began to smolder. There was a long silence and I held my breath, entirely certain someone would hit me and I would be disowned. I closed me eyes and waited bracing myself for a slap…but nothing came.

**author note: yay! i'm an author now! hence i get a note! yay me!**

**ahem well anyway, i hope u liked it, this is my first fanfic ever so plz review! i will probably take a little while to update since school is starting for me soon, but anyway i will not update at all if u don't review so--REVIEW! (flame if u need to) but seriously, i want at least seven reviews from different ppl, 'kay? I don't care if it's good, bad or ugly but it has to be there if u want anymore of this story.**


	2. Unspoken Implications

**Author Note: To anyone who might have been waiting for me to update--SORRY! GOMEN NASAI! I'm really really SORRY! Please for give me! I was honestly waiting for my seventh review (as I told said at the end of the first chapter, 'I will not post the next chapter 'til I get seven reviews from separate people) and then I got it and I thought 'yay! Now I can post stuff' except my private cheering was rudely interrupted by some personal crisis, which is why I haven't been able to post. SORRY. I will try to put more in the next chapter **

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto and you should know it. I am not affiliated with any of it's entities and had no part in it's creation—but I did create this story so if you take anything from it in word, form, idea or other…I will be REALLY mad and deliver you a rabid squirrel! **

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The silence in the room was deafening. Sanity threatened to be crushed by the weight of the tension and my own nervous anticipation.

Several more seconds passed. Unsure of what to do, I slowly opened my eyes and unclenched my fists. A sudden sharp pain in my fingers told me just how tightly my hands had been clasped. With a bit of conscious effort I kept myself from wincing but blinked uncomfortably. Neji nii-san was staring at the spot where my paper had landed…curiously. _Curiously? Neji nii-san never looked at anything…curiously. Nothing ever puzzled him…he was…he is…Impossible! Neji-san knows everything!(my seven year old mentality screamed in my head)_ I looked around the room slightly panicked, _Otousan, the Elders—someone would know what this meant. They were going to say something eventually…weren't they? _

I opened my mouth to ask Neji something but quickly closed it again as I heard a slow deliberate rustle of cloth. "Hinata, Hanabi, Neji…go outside for a few moments please, we need to…discuss some things."

Neji and I bowed dutifully and turned to leave the room but Hinata lagged behind a minute, she raised her voice to protest that she wanted to stay but dumbly shut her mouth and scurried out after an annoyed-warning look from Otousan. Despite my uncertainty, I inwardly cocked an eyebrow, this sort of thing had been happening more often lately. _Otousan never use to look at her like that before. He's _always_ had servants ready on standby to get her whatever she wanted. What's happened between them?_ The wind rustled my hair as I sat down softly on the wooden steps leading away from the walkway that hugged the perimeter of the house. I pulled up some grass and played with a random stalk, silently musing over this.

Apparently Hinata did understand it a little better than me because her face grew red and blotchy and her features crumpled in on themselves as she began to cry. Otousan stared at her though the opening in the screen door and rolled his eyes in disgust. He made a quick signal and a servant closed the door with a light thud, completely ignoring Hinata.

I smiled.

**I couldn't help it; it was a sick sort of satisfaction but satisfaction none the less. _How does it feel, oh sweet sister dear? _I sneered in my head. _How does it feel to be ignored for once? To not have your every whim satisfied for the first time in your life?_ _Yes, it's rather unpleasant to be the invisible one for once isn't it?_**

I remembered a few months ago when Hinata was sick with a cold, the entire house had grinded to a standstill, keeping vigil day and night. Otousan was with her seven hours of the day and ordered me and Neji nii-san to keep constant watch over her and report to him if anything in her condition changed.

It was winter and the evening was cold, Hinata's frail form was buried in a mountain of comforters, her head being the only thing that poked out from under it. Neji and I were seated kneeling on the floor with our backs to screen door, about a tatami apart, as our bodies absorbed any incoming chilling breeze. We both sat resolutely facing Hinata, Byakugans activated to monitor any internal changes, just as Otousan had instructed. We were not released from our posts for three days.

Having stayed up three nights in a row together with the strain of using byakugan so long was more than I could handle. I fainted right after father dismissed us. I had managed to stand up slowly and take the few steps required to exit Hinata's room but instantly passed out when I stepped onto to walkway. Father didn't notice. And when I fell sick he didn't even care.

I remember feeling dizzy and slightly nauseous before I passed out, my vision blurred. I saw vague impressions and smeared colors but couldn't distinguish people from one another. The last thing I remember was a strong pair of hands catching me as I fell.

When I woke up a couple days later I tired to fool myself, I told myself they were father's hands and that he did care. But it was a lie and I knew it, after all, _I was the murderer that took away Okaasan… why would he care for me?_

While I was unconscious my whole body was being eaten by a voracious virus and insatiable aches, I was bed ridden for ten days before anyone even bothered to call a medic nin for a prescription and that whole time father didn't come visit me once. Neji nii-san did…and even though he never said anything, I knew he was the one that had caught me. He came to see me once or twice everyday—not for long…because he couldn't…but sparing ten minutes, when he wasn't at the command of Otousan or Hinata meant a lot.

I coughed a little dryly then began coughing up blood, it was…uncomfortable to say the least but the red looked pretty speckled against the worn white sheet. It was morning and no one had bothered to check on me and Neji-san hadn't been able to come in yesterday. _We can't have Hinata walking around without her favorite servant, now can we?_ I considered sarcastically. I had been picking at the lose threads on the edge my blanket but the thought of this made me stop and stare down bitterly. I ripped the blanket in half. _I hate this house._

Neji came in later and glanced at me inquisitively, then at the blanket but he didn't ask, so I didn't explain. It would have been pointless anyway.

'I'll get you another one Hanabi-sama.'

_Hanabi-sama. _Same thing he always called me…but the '-sama' had begun to grate on my nerves, I gritted my teeth.

'Thank you Neji nii-san.' I looked up, there were hot angry tears streaming down my face but I smiled an ironic smile the shift in honorifics, had made him pause. I gathered up the remnants of shredded blanket and considered mincing them some more but it wasn't fulfilling anymore.

'Nii-san?'

'Yes, Hanabi-sama?'

'Can you please not call me that anymore?

Silence.

'Nii-san?'

'Yes, Hanabi-sam—Hanabi-san?'

**I was done mulling over the affairs of Otousan and Hinata and the grass had lost it's entertainment value. **I glanced over at Hinata— having finished and gotten over her obnoxiously-crying-stage and her silently-fuming-phase she was now entering her rave-wordlessly-period of the tantrum. _How pathetic. _Neji had walked off down the path into the sunken garden, the second smallest meditation garden in the house; it was only two thirds of an acre. Stealing a few fugitive looks around I decided to eavesdrop, I didn't stoop to the indignity of pressing my ear to the door, after all, it _is_ only paper, but strained my hearing to catch the words of a raspy voiced speaker._ Grand-aunt Ayumay?_

"No, no, I had a feeling we would be so unlucky as to have it manifest in this generation, alignment to fire runs in through our ancient blood, but how unlucky for her to have chakra aligned to water as well. It's such a waste; the elements cancel each other out—"

"However, it is very auspicious all of the children this generation have water natured chakra—with the exception of Sakuno's youngest daughter, she's wind, we tested her yesterday right after we gave her the caged bird seal. They should all do well at learning our jutsu. "

"Yes," the excruciatingly cheerful tone of the response meant it must be great-uncle Masaro, "and let's not forget both the heir and Neji have double alignments—that could prove very useful."

"Besides our gentle fist uses no specific chakra nature so perhaps—," his argument was cut off by yet another voice.

This one seemed dangerously calm, like a teacher rebuking a child who wasn't paying attention. "All our clan jutsu are wind and water based, the fire will interfere with Hanabi's control if it is so integrated with the other two chakras and she will not be able to learn any jutsu that require clan-specific chakra natures."

"How unfortunate…she is the first one in twelve generations since the Uchihas split off from us to have a trace of fire…and the Uchiha jutsus are lost." Apparently the raspy voiced speaker was glaring at someone because there was a defensive reply that seemed to be said through gritted teeth.

"It was impractical Ayumay," _so it had been grand-aunt Ayumay speaking_, "and let me remind you that you agreed to the proposal as well," the last part sounded like it was said with a forced smile and was followed by a brief silence. "All Hyuugas, except three, have been wind and-or water natured since the divide of families—"

"Satoru…did you notice how strong her tendency toward wind chakra is? There may be a chance for her to separate them if we teach her chakra manipulation and—"

"Impossible! How can we teach a seven year old chakra manipulation, much less separation? In the whole of our village there are only fourteen people who have mastered both and no one has started before—."

I pulled my senses away from their conversation and rose from the steps walking quickly down the small winding path into the meditation garden. '_Impossible'? Just how stupid do you think I am? Is it because I'm seven or because I'm second born? I 'm not the heir but I'm still a Hyuuga of the main house and I will honor my bloodline. Fourteen people? Fine—give me a month and I'll make it fifteen._

**Author Rant: REVIEW! Out of 178 hits on my story only seven of you bothered to review (thank you very very much to those seven reviewers! ). You don't have to tell me you liked it—by all means, PLZ FEEL FREE TO FLAME! But be sure to review plz! Just like the first chapter, I want at least seven new reviews.**


	3. Uchiha Sasuke

**Author Note: this is a deleted and re-added chapter, SIGNIFICANTLY REVISED. i also added a few words to the title çause ppl were telling me the search wouldn't let them find it.**

**And for those of you who didn't notice, or did notice and were confused, for my story I made the age gap between Hinata and Hanabi three years instead of five and Neji is four years older than Hanabi.**

**Disclaimer: I think we all know I don't own Naruto…or why would I be writing this?**

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The first person I would have to see would be a certain distant relative…Uchiha Sasuke.

With my Byakugan, I quickly found him practicing in a clearing in the woods—thirty seven degrees east, about five kilometers from the edge of the Uchiha compound …or what was left of it. As I passed through it I noticed that no one had bothered to look after it since the massacre and the whole thing had just fallen into haunting disarray. The earth was parched and the streets were caked with dust—I assumed the foot prints through it were Sasuke's; gardens had long since withered and died, surrendering themselves to weeds, and paint on buildings was faded and peeling. Most of the blood had been washed away of course, but a few blood stains still remained…powdered with dust and cracking, _maybe Sharingan blood wasn't as biodegradable_.

I ran a few more minutes by treetop until I reached the clearing where I had seen him train.

After using chakra to secure myself to a branch, I refocused my Byakugan and began dissecting his technique, mentally tracing his stances and chakra coils. I had planed on watching him (for what I expected to be a while) until he started using his fire jutsu but he sensed my presence almost immediately and sent a kunai whizzing passed me. It just barely brushed a few strands of my hair as I ducked and swung upside-down around the branch before determinedly wedging itself into the tree with a resounding twang and falling still. I could hear a foot slide across the ground as Sasuke began to shift positions and draw himself into a lowered stance. Nothing moved, a silent pall fell over the clearing like the whole wood was holding its breath, I didn't dare rise from my perch and Sasuke didn't shift from his crouch. The air was stiff and nothing stirred for several seconds.

Then slowly a warm breeze filled the air and the forest exhaled. He slowly relaxed and unfurled himself into a standing position so he stood with his back towards me—a few moments passed and I kept myself hidden among the branches.

"I know you're there," he said simply, slightly annoyed. I didn't move. He looked over his shoulder in my general direction but I knew he couldn't discern my form or my shadow from the trees—he was simply scanning. His face was cold and indifferent with contrasting features and his stance was relaxed, obviously he didn't consider me a threat. A few more seconds passed and I saw a flicker of irritation cross his face and a shift in his expression. "I don't need to deal with being responsible for what happens when you get in the way of my kunai," he paused and I didn't respond, then he sighed and spelled it out "I suggest you leave." The words were stale, and monotone…and empty.

His face became cold and impassive as he waited and leaves rustled mockingly in near silence of the clearing, accompanied by shadows of branches dancing and shifting in the sunlight that filtered in. He whirled around and two more kunai suddenly shot passed me and grazed my cheek. He waited for a gasp to see if he'd struck true. A single drop of blood formed and slowly dripped onto the tree branch scattering the smell of blood into the air. I saw a smile of mild satisfaction form on his lips as the smell reached him. "You wanna leave yet?" he taunted.

Taking this as a challenge I freed the kunai from the tree, where they had lodged themselves and smiled genuinely.

I leapt from my branch, throwing the kunai ahead of me so they landed upright, half buried, at his feet, and landed near soundlessly a few yards away. The clearing was reasonably flat and the shafts of light spilling though the trees revealed that there wasn't much that could get in the way; a perfect arena. "Very sorry to bother you most honorable cousin," my voice dripped with sarcasm, "please tutor me in the way of your superior skills."

It was intended as casual taunt but he suddenly tensed and became serious, the air between us became suffocating.

"Cousin?" he asked aloud, his voice was dangerously quiet. I felt his senses heighten and his muscles contract for a split second before he spun around—and saw my eyes. White eyes…Hyuuga eyes… he was anxious for another second but then relaxed and dropped his guard. "Hyuuga…," he noted then turned away and began walking out of the clearing with his hands in his pockets.

_Why you arrogant little—! _I impulsively started twirling a kunai between my fingers and then grabbed it dagger-style and launched it at the back of his neck—if he had dodged a second later it would have killed him—but he didn't disappoint me.

Within seconds I felt his hand on the back of my neck with a kunai held poised to stab me. _He is good...but not better_ I thought to myself. Flying though drills imbedded in my memory my muscles instantly contracted and released on their own, erupting into a spinning-inside-mantis-kick as I slid out of his grasp and jumped up, flipping over in the air.

It shouldn't have been expected but he countered with an upward tiger style block and my kick rolled off his back. I touched down and leapt at him again blasting through furious series of kicks but he blocked and countered, stopping me with grabs and his own offensive of punches. He suddenly threw a side kick and tucked into a rapid spin but I found an opening and started hurling punches. Launching into an aerial kick combination, I knocked him backwards out of the spin and then attacked him with a barrage of jump kicks. He kept blocking and for a few seconds, I kept advancing--driving him back with a series of rapid jump kicks but he was blocking just as quickly as I could lash out.

I was about to knee him in the stomach but he had gone into the same kick and we collided, mirroring each other midair. The force of it instantly knocked both of us back and we skidded to a halt at the same time but he kicked off first, flying towards me so that I had to sink into a defensive stance. My eyes widened in panic.

The gap between us closed in less than a second—_He's faster than me—_and I rolled away just before he smashed into the ground with and axe kick. I tried to dodge again as he punched but I wasn't fast enough and the hit connected with my stomach. I slumped slightly and he instantly exploded into another combination, getting in four hits before I could parry him with a sweep kick and seal off seven of his chakra points.

As he was recovering and shifting stances I tackled him, slamming him to the ground, splayed. I focused my body weight on his knees, making sure he wouldn't be able to move his legs. Then subsequently pinned both his elbows flat and affixed them to the ground with chakra expelling from my hands, disrupting his nerve signals and sealing off his chakra points. I distributed my weight equally on his elbows and knees, pushing down as hard as I could to keep him grounded—keeping my back a little arched and my limbs angled so I could hold him without exerting too much energy—that's when I realized how desperately stupid I was—he couldn't move but now neither could I_, as soon as I do he'll be at the advantage for six second—_more than enough time to decide a match_. Crap._

I pushed more chakra though my hands and sat there panting for a couple minutes trying to think of a way out of this without giving up any chance I had of winning. _Damn, Neji-nii san never would have gotten into this._ Sasuke's legs were beginning to gain feeling, and his arms were beginning to shift too.

I took a breath and forced my chakra points to expand, considerably increasing my chakra flow. A few beads of sweat were forming on my face and I was painfully aware of them inching down my chin dripping onto his face. _Great. Just great, now he knows I'm straining._ My muscles ached from being tense so long and they started slipping until I could feel his breath on my face. My arms were giving in dangerously, I had been at the best vantage point when they were angled down on him from a 120 degree angle but they had since slipped to 70, which made me exert much more energy then was preferable.

I looked down uncomfortably and wrinkled my nose for a minute as I attempted to reposition my self. I was growing increasingly annoyed at the way my hair was falling around my face and Sasuke…smirked—_don't you dare–Nobody mocks me and gets away unscathed! _I injected more of my chakra into him and started spinning it into supple vines, threading it around his veins so it disrupted his chakra flow and closed of the rest of his chakra points. I let my chakra brush his entrails and snake along his nerves roughly, grinning when he tensed in discomfort. He twisted his torso a little and trying to avert the internal assault. He stopped just short of a gasp, biting it back with a sharp breath. He gritted his teeth for a moment; then grim lines in his face broke into a (slightly pained) grin. He blew at my hair, and more locks freed themselves from behind my ears falling across my face and interrupting my field of vision—to my extreme irritation.

The Byakugan would easily have seen through it but I had been training that morning and had used my last Byakugan for the day tracking him down. The Byakugan didn't take much but I was now throwing almost all my remaining chakra into his body via the expulsion points in my hands and I couldn't activate it without a seal. I glowered down at him and silently signaled some of my chakra to ram a nerve bundle in his arm and smiled back him as he drew in a sharp breath, but I slipped a few more degrees and my arms began to shake.

Finally, after some minutes of warring with my muscles, I collapsed on him, exhausted. Within seconds, my chakra withdrew from his body and snaked back into me, fiercely surging through my channels.

Freed, he threw me off him and with a quick twist, inverted our positions. He easily pined me with only one arm and shear body mass, his other hand encircled my neck…_he won…_I glared up at him defiantly but was still too tired to do anything that might make a difference. It would take five minutes for my chakra to completely heal any injuries from this and four minutes for my stamina to be completely restored. A few drops of sweat trickled off his face and fell onto mine… _he's tired too; at least I accomplished that much _I noted, my thoughts dripping with self-scorn.

After a few minutes he unclasped my neck and got off me, I snapped up silently gasping for breath. I panted for a couple seconds and realized he was still standing above me. "What?" I asked plainly, more than a little aggravated I had lost, I continued looking away and prying a few strands of hair away from my sweat-streaked face. _No need to actually look at him_, a well trained Byakugan can see emotions without even having to focus; I retained my last air of dignity by hoarding that single point of pride.

He was cocky for sure and that was his dominant expression but the others were mixed in and they kept changing. He finally settled on some sort of recognition akin to tolerance, and then acknowledgment of value…it was followed by a thought so intense it practically radiated itself and I wouldn't have been surprised if everyone in Konoha could feel it—'she'll be … an adequate tool to help me achieve my goal and restore my clan…' I could feel the hate emanating from his sentiments and the apparent momentary satisfaction at having found away the get closer to his goal. I shivered, the feeling of hate wasn't directed at me but the raw pulse of his desire spread like a wave over the clearing and I was sure the entire forest resonated with killing intent. There was someone looming in the back of his mind with eyes that danced like shadows and pupils red as blood. A chill passed through me as the feeling died away.

I took a few moments for the sensation to sweep over me but gradually, an air of normalcy returned. I looked up at Sasuke, "Who is it?" I asked, "He seems strong." I waited, and was greeted with a stoic awkward silence; my sentence hung in the air and even the wind seemed uncomfortable with my question. Then I remembered myself and realized how impolite I had been, I tried to think of a way to break the tension. "Adequate?" I mused aloud.

He looked down at me and he appraised my minuscule form, "just maybe," he said quietly.

I snorted; clasping my hands I began to form seals, boar-ox-lamb-water-tiger-ox-lamb-tiger-snake-tiger-ox-rabit-ox-water! I finished my hand seals and slammed the last one into the ground, "elemental summon: water!" Immediately a web of ink commenced shooting out from where I had made impact and started spreading out and consuming the clearing until it had gone a few feet beyond the edge of the trees. It stopped and then the ground suddenly sunk a couple meters, and formed a large bowl shaped crater that began to fill with violently swirling water. I let it reach middle of my back before I rose to the top and stood in the center of it firmly. A few meters away Sasuke had managed to find his footing and stand on it too. The water kept churning for until the basin was full.

Then it quieted down and became still. He stood looking at me unsure for a minute then started forming seals for a fire jutsu; I quickly activated my Byakugan but it only caught the last seal before he released it at me. Grand fireball—a beautiful high level fire jutsu, but did he really think he could beat me with it while we were on water?

I quickly flew though my own set of hand seals, dog-monkey-rooster-ox-tiger-monkey-water! Two rapidly surging columns of water shot out of the pool and began swirling around me protectively just as the grand fireball would have made contact. Abruptly, an explosive clap of sizzling and spreading steam filled the clearing as the grand fire ball disintegrated; burning out of existence and the water columns continued spinning around me before collapsing back into the pool.

Though the mist I saw him forming a different set of seals as he readied himself to jump. Rooster-rat-monkey-dog-horse, I committed the pattern to memory to practice later, braced myself and summoned the water columns again. He burst out of the mist, spiting a stream of fireballs as he leaped over me—the phoenix fire jutsu.

I formed two quick seals as he was about to land and flicked my wrist. One of the columns rose up again then deviated from its path and rammed into him, fiercely slashing at him and plunging him into the bank. It then immediately collapsed and fell away back into the water. I waited for a moment to see if I had won but he jumped up and began leaping through the trees at the edge of the pool. I threw an onslaught of shuriken at him but he dodged by weaving through the trees and I missed, leaving a trail of shuriken in his wake.

While he was circling around to the edge of the clearing he started spitting a torrent fireballs at me coupled with sudden blasts of shuriken and kunai. Finally, he leapt at me from overhead—getting through the moving water barrier—and began attacking me with blitz of kicks. I dispelled the jutsu to save chakra but it cost me two hits, I faltered a second and I stepped backwards, blocking three more kicks before he touched down and alighted for a moment on the water.

It was an impressive graceful movement and I couldn't help but admire it, such athletic artistry only came form natural talent; something I didn't think I had.

As I stared at him transfixed he seemed to hang in the air in front of me for a second—and then suddenly without thought to put my guard up—I was slammed with a side kick that knocked me into a tree. There was a sharp pain in my back and I slowly slid down the length of the oak and crumbled. The world went black.

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**End note: I hope you all like it people! And a double thank you for waiting for it so long! As always REVIEW! I only got five reviews for the last chap and I was seriously considering not posting this chapter because of it so please, help me out and REVIEW! I WANT SEVEN NEW ONES FROM THIS CHAPTER! I know it's a lot to ask but come on guys! Out of 446 hits all I'm asking for is seven reviews!**


	4. Medicine and Affirmation

**Author Rant: REVIEW!!! Sorry.—I don't mind if you want to flame me or offer suggestions but REVIEW! If you have me on alert or favorites you really should be reviewing (there are nine of you, you know who you are). I don't mean to get on your case about it but I'm desperately starved for your reviews! That's part of the reason why it took so long to write this chapter and why it's so short—reviews are my motivation! Please, motivate me!**

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After what I supposed had been sometime I blinked slowly and sat up. The bright afternoon sun was seeping through the leafy boughs of the Konoha forest and spilling on to my face. I was lying in a rather large patch of assorted mosses—though I had no idea how I got there or why anyone would bother putting stack of mosses together. In addition it being detrimental the growth of the moss I couldn't imagine what you'd use it for, but I wasn't in the mood to guess.

My back was sore, actually, it was venturing into feelings of stabbing, and there was a headache nagging me like I had been slammed into something very hard—but of course I had. My eyes narrowed and my fingers curled into a fist. I fumed for a moment but then tentatively examined my limbs (…no use in dwelling on losses I convinced myself). My legs held a few cuts but it wasn't anything serious, nothing broken so I turned my attention to the most daunting part of my search and experimentally made a few turns with my back. I froze—It. Hurt. Like. Crap.

"Sasuke you—!"

An indifferent response floated down to me, "Yeah?" His voice came from right above me—of course, of all the times I'd forgotten to turn on Byakugan… I mentally kicked myself and then turned to glare up at him. He was seated so that the sun was right behind him, and he had both legs on the same side of the branch dangling over my head. A cloud finished drifting across the sun and I was forced to squint, in what I hoped was a menacing way, instead of glaring. Naturally, he smirked…and then perhaps feeling guilty about slamming me into something, he jumped down and met me half way, squatting down next to me.

There were a lot of things I could have said in response to him but it generally wasn't a good idea to make enemies of someone you were planning on asking a favor of (though it was a little late to be considering that) so I bit my tongue and looked down at my lap instead.

I felt his stare on me for a few more minutes and I shifted uncomfortably. When he, evidently, saw that I wasn't going to say anything he fell back from his squat, sat down in the moss next to me and fumbled with a bundle for a moment, finally withdrawing a small canister that turned out to be filled with something that smelled like it would be very green and threatening looking.

"Lie on your stomach," he commanded.

I eyed the… immediate threat to my well being, and questioned him. "Why?" I asked disgustedly.

"It's a medicinal salve. It's for your back."

I started to back away slowly. I didn't care how established a remedy it was, I was not going to have that applied to my skin.

He sighed exasperated, "I swear its medicinal salve for your back," he pledged, halfheartedly, holding up his right hand.

I stared at him like he was insane. Exactly how old was that stuff?

"Just turn over! It's good for you!"

Appreciating this must be somewhat important to my general well being if it the first he had ever offered to this for anybody, (which I concluded due to his complete lack of tact)…I gradually turned over— suspiciously eyeing the 'salve' to whole time.

When I had finally turned over completely face down, he began pulling off my shirt and unbuttoning the side of my pants so he could peel away the top edge around my waist. My muscles contracted, ready to strangle him—about to throw him off, but it occurred to me that if he had really had malignant intentions he wouldn't have had me lie face down while doing this. I let the logic sink into me and took a few **deep breaths** to calm myself down. I shivered as his fingers trailed along my skin, carefully avoiding aggravating the wound.

He dipped his fingers into the balm and began spreading it on my shoulders. It was a slow careful sort of rubbing and though his hands were callous, they felt gentle to the touch. The tips of his fingers were warm but I quivered slightly…perhaps realizing that the contact, though uninvited, was not unpleasant. His hands moved in smooth hypnotic circles till I relaxed and immersed myself in the motion like a contented kitten.

Half asleep, I didn't notice as my fingers curled slightly with pleasure and warm flush began to spread over my skin… His hands seemed to dissolve into warm sunlight that embraced my skin. If I had been more alert, I might have sensed his fingers tensing as they moved down towards my waist, lingering less and less on higher circles.

The bruising on my lower body was the worst and it was necessary. His hand hesitantly began moving to the lowest reaches of my bruise, a little below my waist; as he touched it I winced a little in pain. His touch lightened to accommodate me and I saddened at the slight withdrawal—it was tentative and frightening but anticipated his touch. I realized and was horrified.

I mentally tore myself away from my satisfaction and stiffened. _There's nothing wrong with this_, I convinced myself,–_this is practical and just he's being responsible. _I inhaled deeply and the scent of the balm willed me to think of other things. I let my mind wander and the tang of the smell compelled me to remember practice session with Hinata.

It was only about a month ago; she was sitting on a pillow on the walkway next to Obasan quietly hugging her arm which was sporting a small bandage for an even smaller scratch, the stench of medical ointment wafting around her. I had seethed just looking at it. Otousan had set aside the morning for training her, clearing an important meeting to free the morning and she had the nerve to sit out and waste his precious time?! Her precious training time? The kind of training time _I _would kill for?

And now, because of her inconsideration Otousan would have to go to the trouble of rescheduling an appointment he had just canceled, after all, he was certainly not going to train Neji, and he never trained me.

But there are first times for everything.

This was the day I learned to respect the power of an Elder. Obasan, apparently disgusted as I was at Hinata's behavior, commanded me to spar and I was happy to oblige—Otousan was less so. Uncertain, I rose from my place a bit unsteadily but assumed my juken stance with cautious grace. Needless to say, I lost; but that was predictable and unimportant, what was important—what was important was that I had lasted more than twice as long as Hinata's longest session. Furthermore, in doing so I ascertained a permanent place for myself in the favor of Obasan during the match; and the value of her favor is not to be under estimated.

Within the hour, my room was moved from the humble corridor nearest the servant quarters to a master-room in the inner sanctuary of the main house bordering the main court yard. The room was the size of a mid-sized house and was shaped like a square picture frame. The actual roofed indoor area of the room was the frame and the center, where the picture would have been, held a private open air court yard. It was immediately plain to see that although the room was rather Spartan, it was filled with only the most high quality materials for the highest ranking of the Hyuuga. It was a room meant for an heiress, and I was not sure why I was allowed to stay.

Curiously, after that day I was also never asked to clean or do laundry again by the house keeper, nor was I made to do dishes by the cook. In the weeks following, I profusely thanked Obasan as expected and made good use of the court yard by adding various traps and geological features for training. The only request made of me by my generous benefactor was that I train and do well to prepare for a time when 'things would change'.

Upon my court yard's completion, the first person I invited to my room was—of course—the only person who had mattered, Neji nii-san; and as we sat drinking tea we were both profoundly satisfied to see Hinata holding her teddy bear, watching us through the wall with more than a twinge of envy as she wrenched off it's head.

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**Did you like it? More later. REVIEW!! **


	5. Another First

**Author Note: Yes! Did u see that? It says author 'note' not author 'rant' this time and the reasoning for that is that is that I have bothered you about reviewing enough now to last for a good 8 chapters and this is only chapter five. Majorly sorry this took so long to post!**

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A summer storm started pouring down as dusk fell and rain splattered in between the leafy branches of the trees; waking me from, what I had supposed, was a light nap. Sasuke grimaced for a moment then rolled over across his back and came up into a compromised tuck, arching his back a little to cover some of my body.

"Damn it. The bandages aren't dry yet," he noted coldly, "don't suppose you've finished healing yourself…"

I shook my head. It would take another three hours at the very least and that was with the help of the ointment. "I'm fine," I said, and quickly tried to make a show of it by rolling over on to my knees and pushing myself up a little—only to fall back again. I was about to get up again but instead, he turned me over and slid his arms under my back and legs. Hoisting me up to carry me; he arched his back to cover me as he began to run through treetops.

"I'm really fine you know," I said aggressively.

He ignored me.

"Are you even paying attention?"

He smirked in reply and kept running, not bothering to answer.

"No! Really I'm—"

"You keep telling yourself that," he answered in a sarcastic monotone.

"I can walk I'm fine! Look!"

He didn't look.

"No, seriously, look!" I bent forward and tried to pull myself out of his grasp but he kept a firm hold on me.

"Very convincing…"

I let my eyelids close halfway and fumed for a good few minutes.

I clenched my jaw in frustration, "You—UGHG! You're really infuriating! Do you know that?" It was possibly the most undignified sentence that had ever been uttered by a Hyuuga; and I did not image that I would be willing to repeat it to my relatives anytime soon. There was no reply…and I conceded, annoyed.

It was around this time of quiet resignation that I noticed my back was bandaged—that meant the linen had to be wrapped around my entire torso, including my chest. I swiveled my head slowly so I was looking up at him and narrowed my eyes, starring holes through his skull but, either by choice or by design, he took no notice of my glare. Just as well, things would be less awkward that way…yes; actually I was sure they would be. Whatever had been done was urgent medical care, so I convinced myself and accepted it.

As the dense forest gave way we started running over roof tops of the Uchiha compound until we came to one particularly small wooden house. I assumed it had belonged to a branch member Uchiha —only later was I told that no other clans had such a thing and that in most families…all the members were considered equal.

He stopped in front of the house and put me down; subsequently he helped me inside, removed my shoes and gave me a towel to dry off. Then he disappeared somewhere to my right down a thin hallway to (I presumed) go change and take a shower.

The house was small and simple but it had signs of life in it that distinguished it from it neighbors. It smelled a little musty but the roof warded off any overhead dripping well enough and the tatami mats on the floor in the main room looked fresh, mingling scents of new bamboo with that of old tea leaves from mornings passed.

The kitchen was pleasant and cheerful looking despite the façade of its owner and looked like a place where I wouldn't mind cooking. There were packets of nuts and canned food scattered across the counter that I supposed no one stopped him from eating, as well as a few raw vegetables on a cutting board that looked like some sort of pathetic attempt at eating healthily. Aside from some books and scrolls that were strewn across the floor or fit snuggly into an old book shelf there wasn't much else, he didn't seem to own many things.

Presently, I walked up to the little four inch step that separated the entrance from the rest of the house and began staggering towards the kitchen only to stumble and fall awkwardly in the middle of the main room and scowl before continuing to crawl on in the same direction. Sasuke was done with his shower and came back wrapped in a towel while drying his hair and tossed me a change of clothes. They turned out to be a dark blue shirt that was long enough to be a dress on me and a pair of shorts so lose on me that I wasn't even going to consider trying them on.

"When you're done changing I'll put your clothes on the radiator to dry," he stated, gesturing behind him to the bowels of the accommodation down the hall. "It'll take a few minutes to warm up." And having said this he once again disappeared into the inner workings of the house. _Does he ever say anything in multiple clauses? _I looked around his house, it was a small cozy place to live I decided, or at least it would have been if he didn't make it so cheerless and dreary. Having established this, I decide to change…_his _

_shirt goes down to my knees…hn…_

_I understand baggy t-shirts but that is just ridiculous. He's only five or six inches taller than me._ And of course, I noticed how ridiculous the thought sounded right after I thought of it. I decide to just wear the shirt, as there would be no point in running around holding up pants that didn't fit, besides, the shirt was long enough. Sasuke came back and took my clothes back, but not before giving me an amused look, which I did not appreciate, that seemed to communicate_ and that was the small shirt…how tall are you anyway? Four foot nothing?_ I replied with a 'hn' and a glare and continued my trek towards the kitchen.

I successfully made my way over to the kitchen and began angrily chopping vegetables and slicing fish for soup. However, when I'm angry, I tend not to pay very much attention to how many times I do something—in this case, chop food for different dishes. That, unfortunately, eventually led to my extreme multitasking of making rice, black tea, steamed vegetables, scrambled eggs, miso soup with tuna, and dumplings all at the same time.

Suffice to say, I ended up running back and forth very quickly in an exceedingly small space with panic that would challenge a mouse being chased by a chicken. This, in turn, fed Sasuke's amusement and I got no relief from these actions and did not calm down.

However, to my credit, I did manage to save four out of five dishes I was cooking—the scrambled eggs being the ones that suffered—and set them on the table properly without burning myself before preparing the tea. And tea, though you might think otherwise, must be prepared, not fetched, not gotten, but prepared and set and poured with the utmost reverence at the exact perfect temperature—even when not conducting tea ceremony.

Preparing tea was a high art and profaning the careful ritual could be as simple as not pouring in the right order. When I was four I was called to serve Otousan and Hinata tea once and I recall 'not pouring with the proper grace.' After I finished, Otousan was deathly quiet, staring into the distance with the distain for the longest time so that even the air in the room quivered. He crushed the china in his hands, grabbed the teapot from me and threw it at my head. I ducked quickly but I was showered with kettle shards and scalding tea as the kettle smashed against the wall.

My skin burned and began to peel but I didn't dare move. We sat in silence for a few more minutes before he got up and slapped me with enough force to throw me against the wall. The backlash sent me spilling off it and crumpling into a heap on the floor with a sickening crunch. Otousan didn't look back for a moment; he faced forward and stood quietly for a few more minutes. "Pick up the pieces and buy new tatami mats. _No one_ helps you, and don't even think about eating dinner tonight" and with that he walked out of the room.

Father could relax, no one asked what happened and no one offered to help. Neji was away, so I was left to be the subject of many curious stares without anyone to defend me when I went out on errands with so many burns. Not that it mattered of course.

Because the tea I had been serving at the time was black tea I remembered the instant clearly and defaulted to my conditioning. I seated Sasuke at the head of the table, presented the dishes, poured tea for him and bowed before humbly retreating to a corner in the far left and positioning myself in a very formal kneel. There was a long silence for a while before he picked up his chopsticks and began to eat.

…"Aren't you going to eat anything?" He prompted.

I remembered myself. I was not in my father's house.

I lifted my head slowly, "…yes…thank you, sorry." He looked at me strangely for a moment and then nodded and indicated that I should sit down and eat.

"It's … good…"he noted clumsily after a minute.

My eyes widened for a fraction of a second. "…Thank you…no one's ever…"I didn't finish and mumbled the rest to myself.

My first compliment.

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**Author Apology: Gaara fans, he'll show up in the story after the next chapter (that ensures the next chapter will be really long)-.-. **

**P.S. the next chapter will also have a slight NejixTenten, nothing major.**


	6. Notable Changes

**Author Note: Really really really sorry this took so long to write but I really wasn't sure how to handle this chapter and I scraped and edited a bunch of versions. It is longer than any other chapters so far though…so think of it as a Christmas, or Chanukah, or Winter Solstice present! I hope you like it!**

**Dedication: This chapter is dedicated to Casakitten and Kitsune6! If you don't know why don't worry about it :0)**

**Disclaimer: haven't I typed it often enough for you to know I don't own Naruto?**

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I woke before the sun, mechanically made breakfast and set and packed two lunches for the day before exploring the house to draw any curtains there might be; and look for Sasuke. My chakra reserves were low from healing but I had enough to feed a simple Byakugan so I did. I had over extended myself by summoning water yesterday when I was still healing, which was why it took me so long to heal the second time. To get the amount of chakra needed for the summoning without waiting for my reserves to restore naturally I had converted my life sustaining energy. It was a dangerous forbidden way to access more chakra, more so than learning to open gates but I would learn that in time too. It felt stupid not to use forbidden jutsu if they would give you the upper hand, besides, there are life lengthening jutsu too…not that they're anymore legal.

The house had five windows that needed attention, seven that didn't and Sasuke's room was at the far end of the house at the end of a hall that didn't seem to get much sun. I pushed the previous day out of my mind but …he looked so peaceful sleeping. Walking quietly, I deactivated Byakugan, finished my chore and made my way to Sasuke's room.

Otousan always wanted me in attendance whenever he chose to wake up, which could be at rather sporadic hours, so I had found it best to wake up several hours before the norm in the house and wait by his bed. I assumed this was how everyone expected their servants to wait on them and since I had nothing to offer to Sasuke except my indenture, I quietly padded into his room and knelt down by his futon. Sitting there, waiting for him to wake up, I mentally ran through the last two days head.

What exactly had I done? I tested my chakra nature, found out I had fire in addition to wind and water, listened to people insult my potential to be a ninja and, in effect, ran way from my fathers house to find a teacher. I then found a possible teacher and…attacked him…_why?_ For no better reason than because I had been listening to people ignore and insult me all day, or rather, all my life…And now I was convalescing in the house of a stranger who had not even agreed to teach me yet, ready to offer myself in servitude. All for the sake of the respect of my father?

No. I would not let my father would not have this much hold over me. For the sake of besting my sister… my pathetic repulsive sister who _clearly_ didn't deserve to be clan head over me; and for the sake of being second born to that feeble sniveling princess. That was a goal worth indenturing for, to become stronger… the strongest, to prove that fate did not exist and birth order didn't matter…for Neji, a prodigy who had the misfortune of being born in the wrong house. I would stage a coup d'etat if I had to, whatever it took; Hinata would not be queen over me and I would find a way to undo the branch house seal.

If the love of my father would break her then I would take that from her too. She had everything handed to her on a porcelain platter and never felt the necessity to work or train because she had the favor of our father. Yes, I would take that from her because no matter how good of an actress she was she could never hide the small glints of relish that showed in her eyes when she made the rest of do her bidding. I only ever saw her practice for one jutsu, and that was the seal combination to activate the cursed mark, not that she ever let anyone catch her doing it again…I would not let her rule; I would not let her win…

Just then, Sasuke woke and noticed my presence, he sat up so quickly that I didn't have time to move out of his way and our noses brushed. I flushed for a moment then backed away quickly and touched the tips of my fingerers to the tatami mats on the floor in a formal bow. "Please," I said, "allow me to offer my indenture to you for the length of your choosing in exchange for your training."

He paused, allowing himself to wake up enough to properly consider the offer. "I don't need a servant," he replied after a minute, "but I will take your oath that you owe me your bond when I need you to repay it."

"I agree." I sealed myself to him, etching a design in chakra to the back of my hand as he did so simultaneously and offered him a drop of my blood in exchange for a drop of his. The chakra seal flared instantly on contact, binding us to each other, and our word—my training began immediately.

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Daily training consisted mostly of one hour of learning and perfecting something new, one hour of target practice, two hours of sparring with Sasuke, taijutsu training and then self training on separation and manipulation. I am pleased to say that chakra nature manipulation came rather easily too me because of the nature of the Juken fist style. However, the separation of my chakra natures took quite a bit longer.

Inside everyone there is a certain amount of chakra that exists in a chakra reserve, which can be viewed in a way and tapped mentally as well as physically. For my purposes, I chose to access my reserves mentally as that is a more difficult and higher state of awareness than relying on physical instincts.

It was on one such day when I was trying to sort and separate the chakra inside myself that I first began to notice alien traces of chakra drifting through the air. It was the faintest whisper of chakra, only a tenth of what is usually left just after a genjutsu is dispersed, but it was there at a rather regular concentration and I didn't recognize the signature.

It didn't bother me for the first few days after I noticed it but, if it was natural, by the fourth day it should have been long gone and yet it remained in the air just as strong. Even though it's integration with the wind was no more than a film of fine dust it began to make me uneasy. The dust seemed to be following us, or more specifically following Sasuke. I wanted to tell him but I had no idea what it might be and what I would say. _Excuse me Sasuke; I'm worried that dust is following you around?_ …I'm sure he would be very concerned.

In the third week of my self allotted month, Sasuke had to go on an all day survival excursion with the academy to a mountain range near our border with the tea country. Lately, the dust had followed him less and less, and it didn't follow him at all today but something still troubled me, the chakra was beginning to feel familiar. Not extremely, but vaguely familiar at least, like I had felt it once before a long time ago…but that couldn't be right.

I ignored my premonition for the moment until something caught my eye. I had thought the dust was scattered regularly, as in a net like pattern but it actually tapered off, slightly condensing into a triangular shape at one end. It wasn't dust…a few pieces of it glittered…like very fine sand….I followed the trail of sand as far as I could see but it stretched my Byakugan to its limit. I decided to find out where the source was.

Apparently who ever was controlling it knew I was coming, because as soon as I got with sixty kilometers of where I thought the source would be a genjutsu was immediately laid and any remaining slivers of the chakra were masked. The threads of the genjutsu were well based but genjutsu has virtually no effect on a well trained Byakugan. I walked through the illusion easily but I still couldn't find the signature. After searching the area for about an hour I left to head back but the sand, but for a few grains, didn't follow me.

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The month passed quickly but it was well spent. Sasuke kept his end of the agreement and made sure that by the end of the month we were on par, teaching me fire jutsu and a new kind of taijutsu. Independently, I separated my chakra into different streams of consciousness and physical reserves and worked on nature manipulation. I can say I accomplished as much in that one month with him as I had in the previous two years of my life and at the end I was sad to leave.

Sasuke was sweet. I doubted anyone else in the world had ever thought that before, but it was true. He acted like a little kid when it came to emotions. I admitted to myself that I liked him. I couldn't say if I loved him because it was a crush but I wanted him to like me back—though I didn't show it. I think he thought of me as a pet or a little sister but still, it was sweet. He treated me protectively, like I was his kitten or something; he would touch me absent mindedly like you would pet a cat and sometimes pull me in with his arms across my shoulders. He even smiled at me but it was only when I had figured out something in training. When we lied down on hill sides after practice or rested in tree tops I wanted him to hug me, it sounds stupid when I think of it but I did, and I wanted him to confide in me. He always looked like he had things to say but he rarely said anything very personal to me.

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I sat, kneeling leisurely at a low table in the reception area of my room. There was someone Neji had wanted me to meet today but he was running late which was very unlike him, and I had something I wanted to tell him. I had just come from a meeting with Obasan and I wanted to tell him the news.

Ever since my month-long training absence two years ago, Obasan had seen the benefit in letting me train on my own and had told the Hokage she was home schooling me. Now, less than a week from Hinata's graduation test, Obasan had arranged it so I would be able to test with her and even Otousan had supported it. Hinata wasn't the favorite any longer, even if she still held the unofficial title of heir.

The first time I had noticed a rift between Otousan and Hinata had been the day I had left to find Sasuke, it was the first time I had seen Otousan blatantly deny her something—over the years I had found out why. Apparently, Hinata had been nursing a crush on Neji for a few days before the meeting and had asked Otousan to arrange a marriage between them on a whim. Not only was it incest, no one ever—ever—dictated their own marriage contract. There were enough contracts that were arranged favorably for those involved, but to make a request for your own arrangement when one was already set was among the highest forms of disobedience possible in our house. The fact that Hinata had even suggested anything did volumes of damage to her in a family based on loyalty and obedience.

When Otousan gets angry, he looks for every flaw in object of his resentment, as if he's seeing it for the first time, unblinded by bias. So it was Hinata's bad fortune to have a sparing session with him the following morning and I became default favorite over time.

Impatiently, I activated Byakugan and scanned the compound for signs of Neji. There—Neji was at the southeastern side entrance with a rather worried looking girl. She had chestnut colored hair done up very practically in two buns and I was sure she was pretty but at the moment she looked like she was about to go to her death. They slowly made their way through the branch member's houses and up to the main house's southern garden entrance. A guard was waiting.

"What is your business?" the guard asked condescendingly, and then added "servant…," under his breath.

Neji tensed and I could see the muscles in his forearms contracting, he reviled the word. "I have an appointment with Hanabi-sama." he replied coolly

The guard sneered "Liar, the only appointment Hanabi-sama was expecting would have commenced twenty minutes ago."

"I am sorry we are running late," Neji forced through his teeth.

"It's my fault we're late!" the brown haired girl volunteered, stepping out from behind Neji with an apologetic bow, "please, I'm very sorry. Gomen nasai."

I deactivated Byakugan, flew through a few quick set of hand seals and appeared before the guard in a clap of smoke. "Thank you for your concern," I said diplomatically, "they are expected."

The guard returned to his wooden manner and bowed slightly towards me. "My apologies, Hanabi-sama," he said rising, and stepped aside.

I nodded and Neji brushed passed the guard abruptly and followed me down the garden path with the brown haired girl behind him. _How stupid_, I thought to myself, the guard wasn't even main house_. It's and entirely different level of idiocy when branch members look down on each other…but of course that's how the main family stays in control even without the seal. Positions are created so branch members are played off each other, competing for the favor of the main house. _

We came to my room (though it really should be called my _rooms,_ it was big enough to house a small country) after a few minutes and I slid the screen door open. "Sorry about that," I directed towards the girl, "my apologies for your treatment by the guard."

She brushed off the conflict with a little smile and shook her head; "It's fine really," she insisted. I motioned for her to sit down with Neji as I poured tea. Neji bit back a comment and fumed silently for a few moments while starring into his tea and the girl looked around apprehensively.

She was sincerely worried, exactly what sorts of horror stories had she heard about me? I was sure Neji would attempt to counteract whatever personal propaganda Hinata spread about me but it didn't exactly help my case. Neji was perceived as cold and distant by most people, and his defense of me would just be an affirmation of Hinata's accounts that her family was working against her to take her "rightful" place_ Oh yes, what a struggle you've had!_…_insert Hinata sob here_. I mentally rolled my eyes.

Neji looked up, "My apologies for being late Hanabi-san," he said calmly (After all this time he still insisted on an honorific), "this is Tenten." Tenten bowed timidly. "I thought she might be able to help you with training since you were asking about weapons drills." He paused for a moment and took a sip of tea then added, "She is my teammate."

I smiled politely, and Tenten seemed to relax a bit. Even though it wouldn't be evident to anyone else, Neji wanted me to like her. Well, like was a bit of a strong word for Neji—but he wanted me to. If he didn't, he wouldn't have wanted to make me think she excelled at something. "Thank you for offering to help," I said to Tenten, "I'll be testing for graduation this coming week." Neji blinked, I suppose slipping it into a conversation would have to qualify as telling Neji. "When would you be willing to teach me?"

"Before and after team training is fine every day," she paused "except this coming Thursday, we have a mission," she answered. "Oh—and I would have to have a weapons match with you before we begin, to gauge your level."

I nodded, of course. "Actually, if you have the time, we could have a match right now." I got up and walked to the center of my room and pulled open the screen to my converted courtyard. I noticed her being to count distances. "It's a third of an acre," I said response to her silent question.

She nodded in reply, "that should be big enough," and she stepped out into the courtyard.

"What are the rules?" I asked.

"Any weapons you like for one minute but nothing else—that means no ninjutsu and genjutsu."

We walked ourselves to the center of the arena and met facing each other and bowed politely. "Call it, Neji!" she shouted when we had finished. He nodded and retreated to the roof. "Begin!" he ordered.

Tenten and I jumped apart and she landed on a tree branch behind her with cat like grace then leapt off it and fired a wave of shuriken at me before launching herself again and lunging at me with crisp sword slices. I dodged and returned her attack with a set of throwing knives while flipping out of the way, but she blocked them easily and landed on a boulder, throwing them back. They narrowly missed my cheek and one of them clipped a strand of hair—I jumped back to another branch then launched myself off it and came spiraling towards her, throwing kunai marked with exploding tags. I touched down on the boulder for a second then jumped away just as the tags exploded—the blast caused fractures all along the rock and little pieces of granite flew up around us. She had jumped just after I had and escaped before the dust settled, with just a few scratches. She jumped back onto a pine tree and threw a handful of makibishi at me as she was retreating. The entire exchange thus far had taken almost thirty seconds.

Tenten shot off her branch and met me as I summoned two handachi from a scroll in my kunai holster. She chopped down aggressively from above and I blocked with a double cloud spin then held her blade in place and threw her off me. She recovered quickly and spun around and lunged making quick slashes, figure eights and sweeping spins then shot back wards and launched a ranged attack of shuriken.

I blocked them as I normally would but a second set was hovering just below the surface and they grazed my arm as I dodged. I shouldn't have fallen for the distraction—she landed a few yards behind me and threw a set of kunai at me coupled with a smoke bomb. I jumped backwards, away, but one of the kunai caught me in the smoke and imbedded in my shoulder. If I pulled it out I'd give away my position by bleeding. I drew out a small scroll from my pouch and summoned a naginata. The second the smoke bomb had erupted Tenten had begun her twin rising dragons jutsu. I lashed and spun the naginata intensely to counter projectiles but her aim was better than mine and she new where to hit. When the smoke settled I had five stab wounds.

"Time!" Neji shouted from the far side of the field. Tenten smiled and helped me up. "You're really fast," she said, "all you need is to work on your aim for long range attacks and some staff drills."


	7. Reunions and Illusions

**Attention:**** Stop! If you haven't already done so—get your butt over to "Choking Vines" by ****Winter Gallowsraven**** and read it! It's a Hanabi fic that's pretty fast-pace after the first chapter. For lazy ppl, there's a link to it on my profile so you have no reason not to go, now go read the goodness...then come back…plz?**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto…yeah.**

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Curtains parted in the rough draft blowing into my room and drew back to show a slightly bleak and cloudy day. There were storm clouds looming ominously in the distance and the wind smelled like rain. Dry pine needles and loosely hanging maple leaves were torn from their feeble holds and shoved through the window or mercilessly smashed against the wall.

I pried open my dresser drawers and threw on a set of standard issue training clothes: straight cut black pants and a black t-shirt with fishnet spread across the v-neck. Nothing special, but it was durable and quick to dry. The wind was blowing harder outside now and my screen door suddenly slid open with a loud thwack. I finished taking inventory, strapping on my holsters and tossed on a gray fleece vest. The genin exams were today and a few changes had been made.

The Hokage recently received word that the Wind Country was considering strengthening its ties with Kiri and that a new village was establishing it's self in the Rice Country. A new village wasn't of much concern, but our current and long standing adversary Kiri had last attacked just two years ago. The only reason we were able to win was because of the flight of seven high ranking shinobi from Kiri during, or just before, the out break of the war—three of them had defected and resettled in Konoha and were now accepted and welcomed as natural citizens.

Konoha is larger than Suna and Kiri combined, and much more affluent, but both of those villages have better trained and higher level shinobi. Since there currently isn't any good will between them it would take at least seven months for them to finalize and mobilize against Konoha but their animosity towards us could throw off estimate; so technically, we're on the cusp of war. That being said, it was a good opportunity for the Sandaime to raise the passing standards for gennin without objection, to make sure our ninja are as well trained as those from Suna and Kiri. The test this year was going to be much more thorough than it had been in the past—and four hours long, not as simple as I had expected but still not a problem.

Neji jumped down off the roof and appeared in the doorway, he would have knocked but I hadn't bothered to close the door after the gust blew it open. "Are you ready Hanabi-san?" he asked, the was the tiniest hint of something else in his normally emotionless face. I smiled back and grabbed a few scrolls off my work table then went to meet him and pushed off to start for the academy.

The Hyuuga compound is the farthest residential compound from the center of the city, so it would take us thirty minutes to reach the academy by roof top at an easy pace. Executing the jutsu to just appear there would have been faster but I wanted to spend some time with Neji before the beginning of the test and I needed to warm up. Besides, it was stupid to reveal jutsu and skill level to potential opponents before it was necessary.

We arrived twenty minutes early for the beginning of the exam and sat on the roof for a few minutes to eat a breakfast of rice balls accompanied by green tea. There was a dull quiet and the steam from our tea rose in the chilly morning air. "Thank you," I said simply, looking up at him. He nodded back while looking straight ahead; voicing gratitude was not our clan's way. He knew how much it meant that he was there for me when he could have training or doing something else, that he cared when no one else did.

We finished eating and he touched my shoulder lightly and gave me his confident almost-smile before we went our separate ways. Neji had to leave for his team training grounds and I jumped off the edge of the roof and went into the academy. It was big school but it wasn't very hard to find the right classroom.

I went in and sat on a random bench near the middle of the room, only about a handful of students had arrived but more were trickling in. I scanned the room and analyzed my potential competition; there were a few gennin who I knew would be serious contenders for the nine passing spots that were allotted. Forty-one students were competing for the passing slots this year, I could beat most of them in combat if I had to, but there were four I wasn't sure about. There wasn't anything to worry about though, gennin test never involved fighting your peers, I wouldn't have to worry about that till Chunin exams, so I decided not to waste my time. I had just unfurled a scroll to read up on the history of nindo when my concentration was interrupted with a sudden round of squeals. "Eeeek! He's here! He's here! Where to you think he's going to sit? Oh my gosh! I hope he sits by me! Gawd! He's sooooo hot! What? No way is he going to sit by you! He's gonna sit by me!" I sighed, took a deep breath and tried to settle into my emotion training. Frankly, I couldn't careless whoever the heck _He_ was or where _He_ was going to sit, I just wanted to take my test and get assigned to a team—being hot was not going to help whoever the hell it was become a shinobi, I thought annoyed.

Then as abruptly as it all started, it unexpectedly stopped, the entire female half of the room (except myself) seemed to be holding in a collective gasp. Whoever _He_ was, _He_ was about to sit down and had stopped somewhere (_like oh my gawd!_). I sighed again and rolled my eyes, aggravated, but not really paying any attention.

A familiar voice broke the silence curiously, "Hanabi?" it asked.

I looked up from my scroll, "Sasuke…!" It was so good to see him again; I hadn't realized how much I had missed him! Without thinking about what I was doing I suddenly jumped up, and hugged him—then quickly dropped my arms and stepped back embarrassed after realizing what I had done. _What the crap did I just hug him for?_ I averted my gaze, cast my eyes down, and then glanced up at him again. We both just stood there uncomfortably and looked at each other for a second without knowing what to say.

Then the most incredible thing happened…I felt one of his arms encircle my shoulders and press me to him gently for a moment then he pushed me back, a little flustered when he'd realized what he had done.

We looked away from each other again for a minute, both slightly embarrassed. I blushed and coughed and Sasuke shoved his hands back in his pockets and tried to assume his usual air of smugness. "I haven't seen you for at least two years. How have you been?" he asked after a minute. The infuriating smirk that had been there since I first met him was back but his eyes weren't as cold now and I knew it was the closest I'd ever get to seeing him smile.

"I've been fine." I answered, "How is your training going?"

As I said this I gestured awkwardly for him to sit down, which he did, then sat on the bench myself, but just as he was about to reply an orange-blonde ninja landed on the desk in front of him, squinting angrily.

The boy frowned and then leaned in, first inspecting—then glaring, until he was only a few inches away from Sasuke's face. Sasuke didn't back away and returned the glare. They glowered at each other for what seemed like minutes, until the door slammed and our proctor came in. At the sound, the blonde nin lost his balance and fell forward—face first—onto Sasuke…

For a few seconds there was a shocked and disgusted silence then loud gagging commenced, issued forth by both unfortunate participants in the event.

**xxx**

Surprisingly…I made it through the emotion training, taijutsu, emergency care, basic jutsu, weapons, history, and nindo parts of the exam without thinking about that disturbing incident too much. History and nindo were both done as seventy-question paper-tests in addition to the traditional scholastic exam, all of which were allotted forty minutes each to finish. The tests for emotion-training and emergency care were a combination of genjutsu (which didn't affect me at all) and interrogation by chuunin. Taijutsu, weapons, and basic jutsu were all demonstrations involving appropriate apparatus and targets.

The last part of the test was battle tactics and stamina, we all walked to the outdoor arena and were told by the proctor we would be given five minutes to defeat our opponent but would pass if we managed to hold him off for seven minutes. It was in order to see how we would fair in the event we were slightly out matched and running low on chakra near the end of battle. While the genin wouldn't be using anything above academy standard jutsu to fight us, we were given the handicap of only being able to use one ninjutsu or genjutsu—the genin was given unlimited use of whatever techniques he chose and of course, he had the added benefit of more extensive training. That most likely meant he had more speed, practice at battle prediction and could move more decisively.

"Battles are decided in minutes," the proctor reminded us, "you have to either be able to incapacitate your opponent while you still have the chance, or hold him off till enforcements arrive to bale you out." Names were drawn in random order and I was placed last, after Sasuke.

It wasn't exactly a fair test for the average academy student but when you live on the brink of war, you can't afford to be average—and there were some exceptional students. One Nara Shikamaru defeated his opponent in two minutes using his clan's shadow jutsu and Haruno Sakura immobilized her opponent just before the five minute time limit was up. Aburame Shino finished his opponent in two minutes and three seconds and Inuzuka Kiba took four minutes. Yamanaka Ino took four minutes and forty-six seconds. Needless to say, Sasuke was the most impressive of all; he took out the genin in exactly one minute using just two kicks, a punch combination and the phoenix flower jutsu.

'Break' was called for the genin to take a solider pill from the judge before and after every match so he could refuel and there was a pause before my name was called so he could do so again. I walked up to the front and the proctor repeated the rules, "You have five minutes to defeat the opposing ninja or you may choose to pass by withstanding seven minutes. Are you clear?" I nodded but I wasn't really paying attention, I was watching the genin. He took the pill and chewed before swallowing the capsule—that wasn't right, solider pills weren't meant to be chewed.

The proctor nodded back and then motioned to the judge, "Test number forty-one, Hyuuga Hanabi. Begin!" I quickly clasped my hands together and formed the seal for the Byakugan. I dodged and blocked easily as the genin came rushing at me and flung him to the side, but something wasn't right. I grabbed him by the wrist and twisted it to spin him around and seal off his vital points—then I saw what was wrong. The chakra network was frozen, and there were the thinnest slivers of threads tracing back to arena's south-east corner.

Suddenly I knew and slipped out of the spell. A young red eyed jonin was controlling the illusion from the edge of the ring, it was an advanced symbiotic genjutsu—probably a personal invention and specialty. "Time, for Hyuuga Hanabi—one-o-three! One minute, three seconds!" the judge shouted, but I ignored it and shot past him towards the genjutsu user. After all, the instructions were to defeat the opposing _ninja_.

The Jonin was surprised I was coming toward her but not unprepared, she whipped out a pair of kunai to block me and throw me off as I leapt up at her with torrent of punches. I was thrown on to the ground hard but I somersaulted and let it roll off then charged again with a series of Juken thrusts—she blocked me well but I found an opening to her lower left and exploited the opportunity. I got in two thrusts to seal a chakra point on her lower back and elbow while she simultaneously slammed into me with an inhumanly fast sweep of the leg and then brought the sweep back, sending me crashing into the side of the school.

I spilled off the face of the building then resumed a defensive Juken stance to face her. By the look of her, the match was over. She had straightened into full upright position and was standing in closed guard. She was a jonin, if she had been a chuunin then I definitely would have attacked…but she was a jonin, so I didn't stand a chance. I straightened myself and bowed to her, "Thank you very much for the match sensei, I must resign." Her face remained battle-tensed for a spilt second then she nodded and dropped the genjutsu she had been using and became visible to everyone else. As I walked back stiffly I noticed the 'genin' had disappeared and murmurs ran through the collected judges and students.

A proctor walked over from the judges table, "What is your officially stated reason for attacking an administrator?"

"It was in the instructions," I replied simply, and he looked somewhat confused for a moment and then seemed to reason it out and catch on. He nodded to me, "Do you need any urgent medical care?" I shook my head. "Then you are dismissed," he finished. I nodded and left.

I could hear conversation drifting for the judges table on my way back. "Kurenai-sensei how was she able to escape the genjutsu?"

"I flawed it intentionally," the red eyed kunoichi replied, "You don't chew solider pills."

I smiled to myself, of course she knew.

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**Alright, I'm really sorry ppl, I swear Gaara shows up next time but I had writers block, then was bombarded with exams and papers, then was sick, Finally wrote something and then lost power on my comp. And in doing so lost my work….:( so this is all you get for now but I hope you enjoyed it anyway. Sorry!**


	8. Acquaintances

**Disclaimer: see previous.**

At the end of the day, the test scores were posted on a chart with the candidate's last names listed in descending rank order. The scores for each section of the test were under appropriately headed columns running across the chart, along with the candidate's final grade at the end. Not all nine of the subjects required a numerical score; some are marked pass or fail, so I wasn't sure what numbers exactly went into the final grade.

Out of forty-one students only would twelve would pass; I held my breath and looked at the postings with my Byakugan eyes from a few yards away while other students swarmed around it like a hive of bees. I wasn't even looking for my own name but Hinata's. Even if I abhorred her, it was important to me that she didn't fail because Hyuuga, have never failed, and so long as she bore the Byakugan and had Hyuuga blood running through her veins, she would have no excuse to be the first one to break that tradition.

As I scanned the posting my eyes came to rest on the twelfth place, the final slot for passing, and I was relieved to see Hinata's name there. Above her name was Akamichi and below it Matasoda, neither of them were clans I happen to be very familiar with or interested in so I disregard the first names completely and brought my gaze back up to the top of the chart. There was a three way tie for the first place among: Sasuke, Aburame Shino, and myself. Second place was another tie between Nara Shikamaru and Haruno Sakura.

I had expected that Sasuke would place first with the Aburame and that I would place somewhere in the top five, but this, as well as Haruno Sakura, was a surprise. The Haruno were not a traditionally shinobi clan, they didn't have clan specific jutsu or an advanced bloodline. I had written myself an encyclopedia with brief descriptions of all the clans in Konoha, past or present and a bingo book of all registered ninja, but I had barely anything about her. All I knew was that Haruno Sakura was supposedly the best academic student and that, of the actual shinobi skills, she was best at genjutsu. I scanned across our rows and summarized that Sasuke had done pretty well all around, but not faultlessly in emergency care; Aburame had lost a few points in taijutsu as had the Nara; Haruno had scored perfectly on the paper tests, basic jutsu, nindo and emergency care portions but had then slipped up a little in emotion training; and I had missed eight questions on the history of Konoha test and six on the scholastic test.

I wasn't completely happy since I had missed questions on something as basic as history but I was pretty satisfied with my scores and thought father would only be slightly displeased.

After reading the scores I left the academy and went a few miles into the city's surrounding forest. Then activated Byakugan for distance training and watched. The mob of wildly chattering children had slowly unraveled and disintegrated as they got their chances to look at the board and then back away from the front and let someone else have a look. They filed out of the building slowly in groups of twos or threes, going to waiting parents bearing the news: looking angry, ashamed, downtrodden or cheerful.

The exception was one particularly lonely boy sitting on a swing outside. I recognized him as being the blonde-orange ninja from earlier. There was no one who had walked out with him and no one who he had news for, no one waiting to offer comfort or consolation.

He had failed of course, I had known he would from the moment he lost his balance, but still there was something in his eyes that made me want to believe he wouldn't. The same thing called out to me now and made me feel sorry for him, and made me recognize him as a kindred spirit, another child who was unloved.

A strong wind blew and the pine trees surrounding the village swayed violently in the gust, loosing bits of braches and pine needles. The air was cool and damp, a harbinger of the storm that would be coming. I sighed and inhaled the smell of bark and dried sap deeply. I was sitting on a branch at the top of a tall pine tree. I exhaled and leaned back against the tree's trunk still watching the blue eyed boy.

Neji hadn't been waiting for me after the test because he had a mission after his team training and father wouldn't have come no matter what had changed, I was never the favorite that Hinata had once been. No, that had spoiled her and made her weak and father was careful not to repeat that mistake again. Yes, I became a default favorite, but all it meant was that father tolerated and trained me, he never once showed a glimmer of affection.

I was trusted to walk myself home eventually sometime that afternoon. I closed my eyes and looked down, then shut off my Byakugan. I turned to find that Sasuke was sitting beside me. He rested a hand on my head for a minute then touched my shoulder lightly. He seemed to know what I was feeling and who I had been watching just by the direction I was looking.

'_He's like us', _I wanted to say. _'There's no one to love him, and just the goal of revenge or recognition to sustain him,'_ but I didn't say anything and Sasuke still knew. I had the feeling he felt the same about the blonde and might have sympathized with the blue-eyed boy if he wasn't so unlike him. Once upon a time Sasuke might have cared, but that was before the red eyed assassin massacred his family and changed his outlook on life, now he categorized everything in black and white. People useful to him and people who were not, people who were weak and people who would survive.

"It's just like you to pick the thinnest tree with the fewest branches," he commented while absently brushing dried sap off his hands. I nodded and smiled slightly but didn't answer.

"What do you think the teams will be?" he asked inconsistently. I understood him perfectly; it could kill you if you spent time feeling sorry, you had to keep your thoughts moving and not dwell on what had happened and how things were. "They usually group gennin into teams so all the teams balance out in power initially or so every team has a medic, a defensive and an offensive fighter in war time."

"It'll probably be the latter," I replied, "in which case we won't be on the same team 'cause we're both offensive fighters..." I stopped and thought a second, "or they might group us so every team has a close-range, a mid-range and long-range fighter. You're mostly mid-range and I'm close-range and mid-range so we probably won't be on the same team even then."

"We'll find out tomorrow," he said reasonably. "Do you want to go train?"

"Thank you, but not now" I responded, "I'm going to get something to eat and probably take sometime off, you want to come with?" Sasuke knew what I was thinking; I was looking towards the academy again.

He shook his head, "He's not good enough to be a ninja Hanabi, I don't want to pick up any dead weight" he said coldly, I knew he didn't mean to be that harsh but it always came out that way.

"We'll let's have Gyoza tomorrow then," I offered.

"Alright, tomorrow then," he replied, and he jumped off the tree. I watched his diminishing back as he ran though the trees then pushed off and started toward the academy. I he sounded cold as ever but somehow his eyes had softened a little. I hoped we would be on the same team despite how unlikely it would be. I sat a moment longer than leapt off in another direction.

Without any attempt to be stealthy, I jumped from the woods onto the shrubby tree in the academy courtyard; the blue-eyed swinger was still sitting underneath. I took a small breath as he turned his head toward me, "Hey, you want to go get something to eat with me?"

He looked around for a minute to see if I was talking to someone else even though there was no one left in the courtyard. He looked back at me like he couldn't believe it for a second, then his whole face lit up… courtesy of his enormous grin. "Really?" he asked.

I gave a small genuine smile back, "Yeah, your name's Naruto right?" He nodded happily, and grinned even more proudly.

He got up from the swing and struck a pose dramatically. "Yup, my name's Naruto Uzumaki, and I'm gonna be the future Hokage! Believe it!" he declared triumphantly. Then after a minute, "What's your name sister?" he asked, slightly embarrassed, scratching behind his head with one hand.

"I'm Hanabi, nice to meet you."

He jumped up into the tree and squatted next to me. His gigantic smiling face zoomed in so close to mine I had to back up and stumble-fell against the trunk of the tree to avoid butting heads. "Nice to meet you Hanabi-chan," he said enthusiastically. I noticed he had already chosen a friendly honorific. "Where did you wanna go for lunch?"

"Well," I replied uneasily, I hadn't really thought about it. "There's this one vender by the river that always has really fresh steamed snow fish and sashimi, and I also know a good Okonomiyaki place."

He frowned a minute, mulling over the choices then burst out smiling again. "Or…" he led on hopefully, "I know this really great noodle stand that has really good ramen with katsuo! It's called Ichiraku!" Seeing I was a little hesitant he added quickly, "Please Hanabi-chan! They're really good, I promise! I go there all the time!" In the face of his enthusiastic plea I nodded slowly and conceded. "Great! You'll love it!" he grabbed my wrist and half dragged me as we leapt off on our way to Ichiraku.

It was a small stand on the side of a wide not-too-busy street toward the outer edge of Konoha, near the beginning of the woods and training grounds. There were nine stools lined up bar style against a counter which was where the meals were served. The owner was a slightly gruff but smiley old man who gave the stand his name and the help he employed consisted of an apprentice ramen chef, who was out at the time, and his daughter, Ayame. He and his daughter greeted Naruto with warm familiarity and welcomed me politely.

I suspected that even if their food hadn't been any good, Naruto would have kept going back for the warmth he received from them. He smiled happily the entire time he was there, like he'd just found a friend he hadn't seen in ten years and there was no where else he'd rather be. Everyone else I had seen him come in contact with that day had tried to avoid him and regarded him with callous looks; they had looked at my like I was insane for being with him. I had yet to figure out what was so wrong with him that mothers with infants went out of their way to spit in his path. Naruto continued chattering eagerly until our orders arrived. He was right, I did fall in love the place.

Just as I had finished the noodles and tipped back my bowl so the steam of the soup was rolled over my face I heard someone abruptly call my name. "Hanabi-sama?" with some reluctance I put down my bowl and faced my questioner, there were two of them, my aunts from the branch house, each with shopping bags. "We thought you would be back at the compound by now. You must go immediately, it's almost two thirty and they are coming at three, did you forget?

I actually, I had forgotten—I mentally slapped my self in the forehead; a delegation from the Kazekage's own house was coming that afternoon. I didn't know what they were coming for but I was supposed to be part of the retinue that greeted them. "Thank you Aunt Setsuku, Aunt Tsuki." I bowed and they bowed in reply and went on their way. I spun around and hurriedly put some money on the counter to cover Naruto's and my orders, then said a rushed formal goodbye to everyone and ran off towards the compound while saying something about seeing them later.

The delegation was coming at three—that really meant they were arriving at two fifty. I had twenty minutes to get home, wash up, get dressed in formal clothing and join everybody else in the main hall—oh crap. I sprinted madly over roof tops and realized two minutes into my mad dash that I should have just executed the transport jutsu to get myself home faster. I came to a screeching halt and flew through the hand signs; I didn't stop to catch my breath when I reappeared in my room amid a clap of smoke. I was covered in dust, sweat, and pine needles and I had less than seven minutes now to give myself a thorough bath because the stupid elders committee never got around to installing showers and there was no way I would ever be able to get properly dressed in formal wear in less than ten minutes!

I sprinted to the bath, turned on the water and started scrubbing furiously at myself while the tub was still being filled. Damn it! Why did formal wear mean traditional clothes? I could have gotten dressed so much faster in training clothes but with traditional clothes there were a million different pieces! People who have never worn a kimono before might think it's like a simple wrap dress but they're dead wrong.

Kimonos are worn by men, women and children and when you don't have time for them--they are elaborate, intricate pieces of _hell_; because you can just toss one on there are layers and layers and you have to pick event-appropriate patterns and fabrics, match the undergarments and accessories to the kimono, layer the undergarments according to meanings, and then select and tie and obi (the are assorted types of knots too). If you happen to select the wrong garments or accessories you could offend your guest or send the wrong message because everything has a corresponding meaning. In short—definitely did not have time for this!

I finished conditioning and rinsing my hair and then stopped half way through towel drying it and threw it up in a damp but tightly wound bun into which I stuck two ornamental hair pieces. I thanked Kami as I caught sight of my bed, someone, probably Aunt Setsuko, had chosen and set out all thirteen pieces of a _furisode_ kimono, the most formal kimono an unmarried girl can wear. I put it on as fast as I could accurately, making sure that all the folds of fabric sat correctly before putting on the next pieces. I finally drew near the end and tied my _fukuro_ obi in a clam's mouth knot. Then quickly put on my _geta_ shoes. I spun around and took one quick look in the mirror before tearing through my transportation jutsu to appear in the just outside the main hall in my spot in the retinue behind one of the elders, on the left in front of Neji.

I took a huge indiscreet but silent gasp and looked around with my Byakugan activated to see how far away the approaching delegation was with wild eyes. I could swear Neji was smirking and his whisper sounded like he was on the verge of laughter. "Cutting it close Hanabi-san," He commented with amusement, "another twenty seconds and…." I threw him a reproachful glare; did he not understand that the feat I had just accomplished was superhuman? I deserved a medal! I was about to whisper something back when the announcement of arrival was called from the main gate.

I snapped into perfect posture immediately and looked straight ahead as the party entered the courtyard. I there were six jounin, four elderly people I assumed to be council members of some sort and three children about Neji and Hinata's age who I assumed were the Kazekage's offspring. There was an uninterested boy about Hinata's age, a blonde defiant looking girl about Neji's age and a red headed boy who looked a year younger than Hinata that radiated hostile indifference.

The feeling of familiar chakra spread through the area as the redhead called sand into his palm to form and eye and then dispersed it into the air while holding a hand seal over his left eye. I watched curiously until his eyes met mine as though he could see right through the wall of people between us. I stared back for a moment then quickly deactivated my Byakugan as both our groups joined into one and turned around to move inside so the delegation heads could talk. I was only a few people away from him and I watched him discreetly after he had called back his sand and removed his hand seal. Out of the corner of my eye I saw one of his siblings bend down and mutter something to him a little hesitantly. The redhead nodded non-committally and a bit of the hostility in the air diminished. He glanced at me again and he caught me staring, I looked away quickly, embarrassed. Why did his chakra feel so familiar?

**Author note: Serious apologies for taking so long, I will not be rewriting this story after all but I will be going through earlier chapters and doing some extreme editing in the hopefully near future (some renovations have already been made to chap 7). I will be in China for the first time for the next three weeks so plz be patient with me about my next chap. I hope you liked it, plz review. **


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